Opticians, Dispensing in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,582
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$11,238
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,251
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$55,820
Kept after tax
$44,582
Worth in national money
$44,251
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays opticians, dispensing a middle wage of $55,820, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 18.11% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Opticians, dispensing ranks 274 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $55,820 the take-home is $44,582, which is worth about $44,251 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $55,110, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Virginia's median for opticians, dispensing is $55,820, about 18.11% above the national figure and 11 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 274 of 489 in Virginia places opticians, dispensing in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for opticians, dispensing on its $55,820 median: $44,582 retained after tax becomes $44,251 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $55,110 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Opticians, Dispensing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,460 |
| This salary | $55,820 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Virginia | $44,582 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,031 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,148 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $52,772 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,016 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of opticians, dispensing in Virginia earn under $55,820 and half over. The published range runs $36,360 at the tenth percentile to $77,460 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $44,582 take-home in Virginia comes from $55,820. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 274 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,251 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 274.
- Figures are distribution medians for opticians, dispensing in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,360 to $77,460; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $44,582, from $55,820, assumes a single Virginia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 274 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,251, worked from $55,820, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Virginia address, on work sitting at 274 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,360 and the top tenth $77,460 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Virginia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $44,251 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $44,582 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,360) and the ninetieth ($77,460) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $44,251 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $44,582 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.